NEWS

Domino is very proud to mark the return of Jon Hopkins and his new album, Singularity, his first since 2013’s breakthrough, Immunity. Singularity is due for release on 4th May 2018. Along with news of Singularity, Hopkins has shared ‘Emerald Rush’ the first track to be released from the album. Listen to the track and watch the animated video, directed by Robert Hunter & Elliot Dear.

In addition to news of Singularity, Hopkins has announced a run of live dates across the UK & Europe with US dates to be announced shortly. He will also be making a number of festival appearances in 2018.

Singularity begins and ends on the same note: a universe beginning, expanding, and contracting towards the same infinitesimal point. Where Immunity – his hypnotic breakthrough LP – charted the dark alternative reality of an epic night out, Singularity explores the dissonance between dystopian urbanity and the green forest. It is a journey that returns to where it began – from the opening note of foreboding to the final sound of acceptance.

Shaped by his experiences with meditation and trance states, the album flows seamlessly from rugged techno to transcendent choral music, from solo acoustic piano to psychedelic ambient. Its epic musical palette is visceral and emotionally honest: with a destructive opener full of industrial electronics and sonic claustrophobia and a redemptive, pure end on solo piano.

Exploring the connectivity of the mind, sonics and the natural world, Singularity reflects the different psychological states Hopkins experienced while writing and recording. It is a transformative trip of defiance from his initial sense of frustration at the state of the contemporary world to the ultimate conclusion that a true sense of peace and belonging can only come from nature.

Singularity is intended to be listened to in one sitting, as a complete body of work.

Following the recent release of the new album The House, Porches today releases a music video for album track “Goodbye”. Co-directed by Aaron Maine and frequent collaborator Nick Harwood.

Porches is currently touring North America is support of The House. Due to popular demand, a third New York City show has been announced – Porches will play at Elsewhere in Brooklyn on Sunday, March 25th. This show follows Music Hall of Williamsburg and Bowery Ballroom, both now sold out.

Beautiful Thing, the forthcoming solo album from Alexis Taylor will be released on April 20th via Domino. It is a very new, very individualist and – yes – very beautiful reflection of a life that's changed immeasurably since Alexis first started out in music. This is a musician, writer and singer who has carved his own unique path through the music of the 21st century, completely avoiding getting trapped along the way in dumb oppositions of pop vs avant-garde, dancefloor vs intellect, retro vs modernist and so on. He has worked with living legends from major pop stars to free improvisors in the furthest left field, played huge arenas and tiny clubs without ever privileging one over the other, and through all of it, never stopped listening and learning. All of this accumulated experience is put to work on Beautiful Thing in pursuit of something subtle and elusive but ultimately quite profound and beautifully human.

Taylor’s fourth album also represents the first time Alexis has made a solo album with a producer, that producer being Tim Goldsworthy, co-founder of Mo Wax and DFA Recordings and member of UNKLE.

Today, Alexis is pleased to share the video for the album’s title track and the track that kick-started the recording process with Goldsworthy. With ‘Beautiful Thing’, Alexis combines experimental, clattering noises with crazed, disco lavishness and bug-eyed acid house momentum to create something giddy and glorious. The video, directed by Edwin Burdis, is a suitably compelling counterpart.

Theupcoming record is a bold and confident step forward for Alexis both sonically and in terms of his songwriting abilities. It has electronic thrills, dark spaces, memories of dancefloors, heartfelt writing; it's composed, it's improvised, it's accidental, it's strange, but it's also very immediate. It is a beautiful thing itself: a moving, modern and unique sounding long-player, to get lost in on repeated deep listens.

Beautiful Thing Tracklisting:

01. Dreaming Another Life02. Beautiful Thing03. Deep Cut04. Roll on Blank Tapes05. Suspicious of Me06. A Hit Song07. Oh Baby08. There’s Nothing To Hide09. I Feel You10. Out of Time

Sorry are a new London band centred around Asha Lorenz & Louis O'Bryen, two 19-year-old childhood best friends, who along with Lincoln Barrett (drums) and Campbell Baum (bass) have been playing on London's underground circuit since 2015. '2 Down 2 Dance' is their second official release for Domino, produced by Oli Barton-Wood (Alaskalaska, HMLTD), featuring Asha and Louis’ twisted twin vocals punctuating a typically catchy chorus laden with grungy guitars and surging beats. Sorry have also revealed '2 Down 2 Dance's video today, directed by Asha and frequent collaborator Flo Webb, featuring a delicate dance routine performed by a pair of fey ballet artists, contrasting with the track’s gnarled riffs.

"Ballet dancers can seem so graceful and shy when they move, you are content to just watch as they strive for perfection. We hope the song and video go hand in hand mirroring both beauty and subtle sadness in their movements." – Asha Lorenz

The band will celebrate the launch of ‘2 Down 2 Dance’ with a special show at London’s Whirled Cinema on 22 March.

Sorry’s 2017 debut single ‘Wished’ / ‘Lies’ was championed by The FADER (‘U.K. artists you need to listen to in 2018’), NME (‘The NME 100’), DIY (‘Class Of 2018’), Dork (‘New bands of 2018’), Loud And Quiet, DAZED, Noisey, Another Man, The Line Of Best Fit, and many more. Recorded by Sean Oakley (Rick Rubin, Frank Ocean) and mixed by Andrew Savours (My Bloody Valentine), ‘Wished’ / ‘Lies’ provided an enticing first glimpse of the band's effortlessly emotive songwriting and command of atmosphere. The single followed the self-release of Home Demo(ns) Vol. 1, an eclectic, home-spun 13 track mixtape accompanied by Asha and friend Flo Webb’s intense, vivid short films.

The band have already earned their stripes on the live circuit, providing visceral performances while touring with Pixx, Shame, Childhood, Thurston Moore, The Big Moon, Alvvays and Dream Wife, with a full run of dates joining Sunflower Bean in March and April about to begin.

2 Down 2 Dance Tracklisting:

A. 2 Down 2 DanceB. Harmless

2 Down 2 Dance Pre-order:

2 Down 2 Dance is available to pre-order on now on limited pressing 7", and digital download.

Australian trio Middle Kids announce their eagerly-awaited debut album, Lost Friends, out May 4, 2018 on Domino.

On Lost Friends, Hannah Joy, Harry Day and Tim Fitz bring back their knack for haunting hooks, lyrical poignancy and irresistible indie rock appeal that critics praised in their self-titled first EP, released in March 2016. This radiant collection of new songs conjures melodic nostalgia for some of songwriting's very best, rich in heartfelt build and beautiful simplicity. Take new song "Mistake" as evidence – the first single from the album, released today. Watch the video below:

Middle Kids made a powerful debut last year with the release of their internationally acclaimed self-titled EP, featuring hit singles “Edge of Town” and “Your Love." The band dazzled at several SXSW showcases, sold-out Baby’s All Right in New York City, performed sessions for KCRW, KEXP and Sirius XMU and made their television debut on Conan. In addition to their headlining successes, Middle Kids supported legendary acts like Ryan Adams and The War On Drugs. They’ll kick off an extensive U.S. tour this June, including festival plays at Governors Ball in New York City and Firefly Music Festival in Dover. The full run is detailed below, with all tickets going on sale this Friday, February 2nd.

The new album, Lost Friends, is the kind of album that sucker-punches you in the gut, revealing its nuances only after repeated listens. The songs’ edges are jagged, the production clean, stray imperfections imbue warmth and a human touch. Middle Kids craft classic hooks and riffs that tangle up in your brain like taffy and choruses that linger long after the song has faded. And they’ve bonded over a greater sense of what their music should accomplish.

“In a time where a lot of division is growing, we want to be part of the conversation that unites people around certain ideals that are universal, like hope and love,” says Hannah Joy. “That’s so much a thread throughout this album: Even though things are tough, it’s worth believing in something good and in the idea that we can heal. And in some ways, I wanted the music to be beautiful and a respite from what’s going on.”

To kick off 2018, Hookworms, have today shared the new video for 'Static Resistance' the latest track from their forthcoming album, Microshift, due for release on February 2nd 2018. Watch the video, directed by Ciaran Lyons below.

On ‘Static Resistance’, the band have said:

“Static Resistance is the oldest track on the album, we wrote and recorded the first version of it early 2015, not very long after The Hum had been released. It's one of only two pre-flood songs on the record. It’s a song about the wax and wane of depression and an eternal want to escape the life you’ve built.”

In January of this year, Austra released Future Politics,the critically lauded fourth album from the Canadian synth-pop group. Before the year is out, Austra have one more track to share, ‘Change The Paradigm’, a Future Politics B-side.

Singer Katie Stelmanis on ‘Change The Paradigm’:

“I wish "Change the Paradigm" had made it onto the record because it directly embodies what I wanted to express on "Future Politics" - that the most powerful tool we possess for creating a better world is our own imagination. "Future Politics" was written in a much different climate than what we have today. It's been difficult to stay positive, but for me the possibility of what lies ahead is not only a weapon of potential, but a source of comfort and faith. We have to believe in the future and our own power to invent it now more than ever!”

To wrap up the year, Austra are playing one final show in their hometown Toronto at the Velvet Underground this Thursday, December 14th. Tickets are on sale and available for purchase here.

12/04/17

photo credit: Dan Kendall

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Sorry are a new London band centred around Asha Lorenz and Louis O'Bryen, two 19 year-old childhood best friends. Along with Lincoln Barrett (drums) and Campbell Baum (bass) Sorry have been making a name for themselves on London's underground circuit since 2015.

Although starting life with a conventional rock band set up, Sorry’s tastes are wide-ranging and reflect their age and omnivorous YouTube-era musical upbringing where rock, hip hop, noise, electronic soundscapes, grime and folk all sit side-by-side and without confusion. Accordingly, all these influences and more form the band's unique nascent musical universe - a bold, ambitious and at times irreverent canvas onto which the symbiotic intensity of Lorenz’s and O'Bryen's emotional and hyper-melodic songwriting is projected.

‘Wished’ is their debut studio recording and follows the recent self-release of Home Demo(ns) Vol. 1, an eclectic, homespun 13 track audio/visual mixtape. Recorded by Sean Oakley (Rick Rubin, Frank Ocean) and mixed by Andrew Savours (My Bloody Valentine), it is an enticing first document of the band's effortlessly emotive songwriting and command of atmosphere which will be familiar to anyone who has seen their visceral live shows so far, as well as a glimpse at in-studio production possibilities to be explored in their future work.

Wished’ will also be accompanied by a B-side, ‘Lies’ - set to arrive later this month. Both tracks will be packaged together on Sorry’s very first 7” vinyl release on Domino.

Patrick Watson is proud to share "Broken", a brand new single and video, premiering today via NPR. The track was recorded at Studio PM in Montreal last month.

"This is a song I just felt like sharing before the next record. Dedicated to the storms we went through.” - Patrick Watson

Of the video, recently shot in Montreal, director Pedro Pires says: “It was a real pleasure to work with Patrick to create this video. We started with simple intuitive ideas such as characters fleeing or running away in fast moving vehicles. I then proposed to use reflections and flares to fragment the light to reveal a more impressionist moody state of mind of these various “broken” characters."

Patrick has been busy with various projects since the 2015 release of his critically acclaimed fifth album, Love Songs for Robots. He performed after U2’s Bono at the Canada Day concert last July in Ottawa, was part of the cast as a performer for the circus show Rêveurs définitifs, played the Montreal Symphonique outdoor concert on the Mount-Royal to celebrate the city’s 375th anniversary, embarked on the Canadian C3 boat for a 2 week run to raise awareness on diversity, inclusion, reconciliation, youth engagement and the environment, played special concerts with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and finally, performed last week at the Bell Center for Tower of Songs, a tribute concert to Leonard Cohen in Montreal with Sting, Lana Del Rey, Elvis Costello, Adam Cohen, Coeur de Pirate and more. Patrick and his band are currently recording their next album, set to be released sometime in 2018.

Watson composes, performs and records his albums with his full band of almost a decade, which includes Joe Grass (guitars), Robbie Kuster (drums/percussion) and Mishka Stein (bass). The recipient of Canada’s elite Polaris Music Prize in 2007, Watson and his band have performed to over 100,000 people at the 2009 Montreal Jazz Festival as well as with full orchestras in Amsterdam and Montreal. Raised and still living in Montreal, Watson himself has composed 15 scores for both film and television, including a trailer for “The Walking Dead” and Wim Wenders’ 3D film “Everything Will Be Fine”, where he performed the songs “Cynical World” (an original for the film) and “Lighthouse.”

Domino is very proud to present Microshift, the third album from Hookworms, due for release on February 2nd 2018. With the announcement of Microshift, the band share new track, Negative Space.

Microshift is the Leeds band's first new work in over 3 years and marks a seismic shift in their sound, dynamic, songwriting and production, whilst still bearing all the ferocious energy, intricate musicianship and bruised but beautiful song-craft of the previous releases which have quietly made them one of the UK's most revered young bands.

This is the band's third studio album technically but arguably the first in which the studio has been central to its creation. Pearl Mystic and second LP, The Hum were heavily informed by the band's live sound, Microshift on the other hand came to life in the studio, formed out of loops, modular synthesizer sequences, drum machines, homemade samples etc. which were jammed around and layered until the songs began to emerge. The band have also opened their writing to include collaborations with artists such as Richard Formby (on Opener), Christopher Duffin (on Boxing Day) and Alice Merida Richards (on Each Time We Pass).

Radiant, immersive and teeming with light, but still heavy and forceful - the music on Microshift acts as a very deliberate counter to some of the difficult topics the album's lyrics address. Death, disease, heartbreak, body image and even natural disaster are all present here but the overall effect these songs achieve is euphoric catharsis.

The album was written and recorded in full following a complete rebuild of the band’s Suburban Home Studio after the River Aire floods in Leeds in the winter of 2015 which devastated the studio. The band had an incredible response to a GoFundMe campaign and the subsequent help of volunteers over several months to rebuild the studio from nothing is a huge part of the band’s continued existence. Striving through the toughness, it is perhaps no surprise that the record is one of both defiance and darkness. “All of our records are to an extent about mental health,” comments MJ. “Largely this is an album about loss but also about maturing, accepting your flaws and the transience of intimacy”.